


Luke's Return

by castles_and_crowns



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Drama, Family, Mentions of Ben Solo/Kylo Ren, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Skywalker Twin Reunion, mentions of Finn, mentions of Rey - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 16:02:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12136020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castles_and_crowns/pseuds/castles_and_crowns
Summary: Luke returns to the Resistance base, and both he and Leia struggle with the heavy feelings they hold inside and discuss what their next moves should be.





	Luke's Return

**Author's Note:**

> Just an idea I had about what a Skywalker twin reunion might look like. I've heard rumors that we might not get a reunion between them in TLJ, which would kill me. If that is in fact the case, this one-shot may turn into a multi-chapter fic of different iterations of a reunion between them.
> 
> Also, obviously these are Lucasfilm's (two best) characters and not mine.

Leia watched anxiously as the _Millennium Falcon_ flew into the sky, soon to be in outer space. Aboard were Chewie, Artoo, and a mysterious girl she had just met only a few days before. They were going to find her brother and hopefully bring him home.

 

Six years prior, Luke went completely off the grid. When her son turned to the dark side, Luke showed up at Leia and Han’s doorstep. He confessed to both of them all of the details of what had happened, before telling them that he was going away. And it seemed like as soon as he did, things in the galaxy had gone from bad to worse to worst.

 

Leia was now the commanding general of the Resistance, a group of fighters that gathered intelligence and attempted to stave off the growing First Order. Leia knew that in order to stand a chance against them she had to get her brother back. Terrorist attacks had been occurring all over the galaxy. First, a giant terror attack occurred on Coruscant. Half of the main city had been blown up, probably in an attempt to wreck one of the most industrialized planets’ economies. Almost immediately after that, there was an attack on Corellia’s biggest shipyard, likely an attempt to damage the companies that built ships for the Resistance’s fleet. Following that, little towns all over planets aligned with the New Republic were ransacked and terrorized. Leia knew then that she had to get Luke, but she had no idea how. Even Artoo, who Luke had left in Leia’s care, had stopped working soon after Luke left. He had seemed to go off into a deep sleep. She’d been trying to sense him out, to reach out to him though the Force, but he was out of Leia’s reach, perhaps too far away, perhaps purposefully closing his mind to her.

 

Then, as if it were a miracle, an old friend of her and Luke’s reached out. He said he had a map that would lead to Luke. She sent her best pilot and protégé, Poe Dameron, to fetch it. And that’s when things went haywire. But somehow, it had all managed to end with her having the map that would lead the Resistance to her brother. Leia now only had to hope that when Luke _was_ found, he would return. So now the wait began.

 

Hours later, as Leia was falling asleep in her private bunk, she jolted awake. As if a light switch had been flipped on, Leia suddenly felt her brother’s presence again, his light. _He was alive._ With all of her might, Leia focused on sending Luke a message: _Come home. We need you._

For the next few weeks, Leia waited anxiously for her brother’s return. She had gotten glimmers of communication from Luke, but they were never as clear as that first night. The glimmers were more feelings of Luke’s as opposed to actual words. Sometimes the feelings were joyous, other times they were of deep sadness. Some times they were of pride and other times the feelings were of shame.

 

One day, Leia was in a meeting with her top intelligence people. As one of her commanders was talking, she suddenly felt a weight so hard in chest it knocked the wind out of her, and she collapsed in her chair.

 

 _Ben. Luke. Rey._ There were together.

 

“General? General Organa?” Commander Hollak asked, concerned.

 

Leia struggled to focus. Her heart rate was up and her vision was blurry. She could almost see glimpses of the scene. They were fighting. One blue and one green lightsaber against a sea of red ones.

 

“General? Do we need to get a doctor?” the Commander asked urgently.

 

“I’m—I need to be left alone. _Now.”_

The room quickly emptied, and Leia focused her energy on feeling what was going on where they were.   She couldn’t decipher whose feelings were her son’s and whose feelings were Luke’s or even Rey’s. She just knew there was mayhem. The feelings and fuzzy images lasted for just over an hour, and then they vanished. When the feelings were gone, Leia felt like a weight had been lifted from her chest. Completely exhausted and overwhelmed, she slumped over in her chair and began to cry.

 

The next day, Leia found it impossible to focus. In every meeting she had, she felt her mind wandering. Was Ben alive? Was Luke? Was Rey? In a mid-afternoon meeting, Leia listened as Admiral Ackbar and his captains discussed their plan for a possible attack on what was rumored to be a base for the First Order. Suddenly, Finn burst into the room.

 

“They’re back! They’ve come back!”

 

Leia was speechless, but Ackbar asked the million credit question for her. “Who?”

 

“Rey and Skywalker!” Finn exclaimed.

 

Leia’s heart leapt. “Meeting adjourned!” she shouted.

 

Leia zoomed through the halls and pushed her way through crowds of people to make it to the front of the hangar. The doors of the _Falcon_ opened and out zipped R2-D2, followed by Chewbacca. Rey came next and immediately was embraced by Finn. Lastly, Luke exited, and the crowd around Leia hushed.

 

Luke walked off the ship slowly, and Leia was shocked to see how much her brother had aged in six years. He looked _tired._ And _sad._ His eyes finally locked on hers, and Leia ran to her brother; however, she didn’t hug him yet.

 

***

 

“Leia,” Luke said simply, as if her name was a full sentence.

 

“Luke,” Leia responded, drinking him in. “Welcome home.”

 

Luke just stared at her. He knew this moment was a long time coming, but, for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what he was supposed to say or do. He reached out mentally to sense Leia’s feelings. _Relief. Anger. Hurt._ But underneath all of it, _love._

Finally, Leia opened her arms. Luke stepped into them and let Leia hug him for a moment before he hugged back. When they parted, Luke was immediately inundated with Resistance members. He sent out a mental message to his sister. _I have to talk to you. Before anyone else, I must talk with you._

“Excuse me everyone,” Leia exclaimed, causing everyone in the hangar to switch their attention to her. “I really feel it pertinent that I first speak with my brother in private. You will all have your chance to speak with him soon enough.”

 

_Thank you, Leia._

 

To Luke, Leia offered a small but tight smile as if she had received his response and then motioned for him to follow her. Luke followed as Leia silently led them through hallways and stairwells until they reached what appeared to be the residential part of the base. Leia stopped in front of a door, held out her palm for a scan, and the door unlocked.

 

The two walked into Leia’s small private quarters, which consisted of two rooms: an office in the front and a bedroom in the back.

 

“Have a seat,” Leia motioned to the tiny blue couch that was in her office. Luke did as he was told, while his sister sat behind her large brown desk. Despite her size compared to that of the desk, Luke noticed how _in charge_ Leia appeared. Ever since he’d met Leia, she had always had this air of authority to her, which Luke always found slightly humorous because she was so small.

 

“I can sense your amusement, you know?” Leia said, looking at Luke pointedly.

 

Luke couldn’t help but be impressed. He nodded. “I’m proud.”

 

“Well, thank you, but frankly, there’s nothing to be amused about.”

 

“Leia—“ Luke began, but his sister cut him off.

 

“ _How could you leave?!”_ Leia screamed with absolutely no restraint.

 

“I’m—“

 

“ _I’m not done_ ,” Leia interrupted again. “How could you leave and _stay gone_ as the galaxy falls apart around you? You must have known how bad things were? You went off to gain _wisdom,_ right? You said you were going to search for temples and ruins, if I recall. And that took _six years?_ Be honest with me, Luke—you ran away.”

 

Luke didn’t respond because he wasn’t sure if Leia was done chewing him out. At this moment, Luke was really frightened of his sister _._ He had seen her mad or upset…but he had never seen her like this.

 

“You can talk now,” Leia told him sharply after Luke remained silent.

 

“I didn’t run away at first,” he began tentatively, answering her most recent accusation first. “I did start off seeking more knowledge and relics. I found scriptures from the Church of the Force from ages and ages ago. I found the first Jedi temple. And I can honestly tell you that I learned and obtained wisdom from these things. But over time, I grew intimidated. And scared. How was I going to build up the Order again after everything that had happened? And how was I going to fight a new regime all by myself?”

 

“You wouldn’t have been all by yourself,” Leia said with a little more softness in her voice.

 

“I know that. But I didn’t think I could fight a whole group of Dark Side wielders. And I really didn’t think I could fight my own nephew if it came down to that.”

 

Leia’s expression broke from a harsh one to one of heartbreak. Still, she remained silent, so Luke continued.

 

“But then you sent Rey. I had always sensed her presence, but I never knew who she was. When she came to me, I knew immediately that this was the girl I had been sensing all this time. She is strong in the Force, Leia. I knew, despite my reluctance, that I must train her. And then, in the middle of her training, Ben returned.”

 

“I sensed that!” Leia exclaimed. “Is he—is he alive?”

 

“He is,” Luke told her. “But he’s the only one. All of his…followers, I guess you’d call them, are dead.”

 

“You didn’t kill him?”

 

“I couldn’t.”

 

“Thank you,” Leia said.

 

“I couldn’t have come back, knowing that I killed your son,” Luke replied.

 

Leia’s face crinkled up, and Luke watched her fight off tears. She got up from behind her desk, sat down beside Luke, and hugged him tight. This time, Luke hugged her back immediately.

 

“We have to get him back,” Leia whispered to Luke. “If we can bring him back, we can win this war.”

 

“I know,” Luke responded. “And Leia, I’m so sorry about Han.”

 

Leia slowly broke off the hug and stared deeply into Luke’s eyes. “I can’t lose them both. Han died trying to save Ben. His death can’t have been in vain.”

 

Luke sighed. “I know. And when we fought Ben, it was almost like he was going easy on Rey. Not on me—but on Rey, it was almost like he was play-fighting with her. I can’t save him, Leia. I’ve tried, and I’ve failed. But you can. You and Rey can.”

 

“Where is he now?” Leia asked.

 

“He flew off in his ship by himself, but I don’t know where he went.”

 

“Probably back to Snoke,” Leia said, her voice rough.

 

“Do you know where he’s hiding out?” Luke asked.

 

            “We have no idea. We believe he’s on a separate planet from the majority of the First Order. What about this Rey girl? Who is she? How can she save Ben?”

 

“I’m not sure _who_ she is, but she is strong in the Force. She’s Ben’s opposite in that she’s the light with a pull to the dark—“

 

“And Ben is the dark with a pull to the light?” Leia finished.

 

“Yes. If Ben gets to Rey, it could mean disaster, but if Rey can get to Ben, and if _you_ can get to Ben, he can be brought back. I know it.”

 

“So what do we do?”

 

Luke sighed. “I’d recommend you sending out spies to see where Ben is. I will continue Rey’s training. And then, I think you and Rey must travel to where Ben is. He’ll feel you both; you won’t have to search for him.”

 

Leia chuckled, but her laugh didn’t reach her eyes. “You should have been here this whole time. You probably would have been a better general than I was.”

 

"Leia, stop. Don’t do this to yourself. Don’t beat yourself up. Six years ago, you were just starting this operation up. Now, look what you’ve built.”

 

“But we’ve—“

 

“I’m sure you’ve had serious set backs. But you’ve kept on fighting. You’re a good strategist, Leia, and a fantastic leader.”

 

“Thank you,” Leia responded, embracing her brother. She had practically fallen into his arms, and Luke knew all he could do was hold her tight. The tears started soon after; Luke could tell, as his robes were getting damp. And as Leia cried, Luke found himself shedding a few tears as well.

 

 


End file.
